Click here to email Brenton Driedger
12/2/2009
Even though Alberta is facing a growing health care deficit, Premier Ed Stelmach says the financial cushion is there to get us through.
Alberta Health Services is staring at a $1.3 billion shortfall, and top executives suggest the board could run out of money by February 2010 if things don't change.
But Stelmach says Alberta is still fortunate.
We're working off a cash surplus account that we managed to put together in better economic times, but that doesn't mean that surplus account is bottomless," says Stelmach. "We have to work with health care providers to ensure that we have the same system that we enjoy--a publicly paid-for system--for the next generation."
Stelmach adds you don't need to worry about hospitals being shut down.
"They're not going to close the doors. We're not closing any hospitals, we're not closing any long-term care centres. They will keep funding. It's all backed by the taxpayer. It's nothing new, we've done that in the past."
(bd)
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